REPTOID - Worship False Gods

REPTOID: one-man industrial/noise-rock phenom unleashes alien sermons and maniacal sounds via homemade gear; Learning Curve Records to release debut full-length "Worship False Gods"; new track streaming now

Learning Curve Records announces the August 28th release of Worship False Gods, the debut full-length album by Reptoid.

Stream new track "Planned Obsolescence," and pre-order the album, here:
https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/worship-false-gods

Reptoid is a one-man, industrial-influenced noise-rock band from Oakland, California. The sole member, Jordan Sobolew, surrounds himself with an army of drums, homemade fuzz pedals, noise devices and a sampler, to produce spastic, hypnotizing rhythms, and painfully amplified sounds drenched in effects through an oversized pedal-board full of odd implements. Vocals are delivered through a mic strapped directly to the face by a modified respirator mask. Everything is performed live and without the aid of a computer or backing tracks. "The intent is to convey frenetic, third eye-opening energy," says Sobolew.

Debut full-length Worship False Gods is dazzling. Even those listeners bearing no knowledge of the music's origin will be wowed by Reptoid – an onslaught of churning noise-rock, punctuated by an array of glitchy sounds and propelled by Sobolew's drumming which ranks somewhere between the frantic assaults of Brian Chippendale and the almighty hammering of Dale Crover. Had Worship False Gods been bashed out by a full band, it would be regarded as a devastating slab of experimental rock, in league with Daughters, The Locust or Lightning Bolt. But the kicker is that this is a solo project, composed and performed solely by Sobolew, using a small mountain of highly customized gear. For one person to execute these songs, live, in real time, without any sort of accompaniment or enhancement, is a technical marvel. As an awe-struck Invisible Oranges proclaimed in 2017: "Reptoid encases feral-yet-precise drumming with noxious clouds of noise and maniacal synth. And it’s just one guy." 

Amidst the din, Sobolew sermonizes like an alien preacher diagnosing the human condition, via lyrics such as: "This human machine is obsolete"; "The abyss is waiting, it’s where we’ve always belonged"; "You’ve already been compromised, you’ve already been digitized"; and "Dig a hole and bury yourself to the neck, buy some shit and fill your existential debt." 

He explains: "I have a somewhat misanthropic view of humanity and I enjoy looking at it from the outside perspective of an alien. I would say the major concept behind the album is taking a look at the various gods we worship and base our lives upon. Worshiping human greed, monetary wealth, status, celebrity, power, possessions, things we try to use to fill a void we feel within. Creating systems where we try to become the gods of our own little universes just so we can stand above others and be worshiped ourselves."

For a taste of Reptoid in action, see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQZFzOeTWr0

Worship False Gods was recorded at Santo Recording Studio in Oakland by Jordan Sobolew with assistance from Joe Finocchio. It was mixed by Jordan Sobolew at his home studio, The Mothership, in Oakland. It was mastered by Carl Saff (Bambara, Big Business, Moor Mother).

Cover design by Jordan Sobolew; cover photo by Christopher Sturm.

Promo photos by Christopher Sturm.

Tracklist:
1) Planned Obsolescence
2) Void Filler
3) You Have Already Been Compromised
4) We Still Can't Decipher the Meaning of Pain
5) This Is Progress
6) Shifted Probed Implanted
7) Cerebral Wall
8) I Drank the Punch

Discography:
Worship False Gods (2020, Learning Curve Records)
Dope, Guns and Fucking in the Streets, Vol. 14 (comp) (2019, Amphetamine Reptile Records)
Split 7” with Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends (2018, Seismic Wave Entertainment)
Scum Supreme 7” (2017, Cool Room/Barcop Records)
Weird Energy cassette (2014, self-released)

Press:

"Reptoid encases feral-yet-precise drumming with noxious clouds of noise and maniacal synth. And it’s just one guy."
–Invisible Oranges

"Strange and awesome... Beautiful weirdness."
–CVLT Nation

"Disgustingly heavy prog-noise beats."
–Gear Gods

"One part theatrics, one part technical difficulties, and two parts crushing wall of sound... A one-man army of machine, percussion, and sweat."
–The Bay Bridged